Homemade Bacon and Cheddar Bagels

If you’re a fan (and who are we kidding, we all are), you need to get in on this bagel making.

These bagels have the lovely exterior firmness of a bagel with an added bonus of a fluffy almost biscuit-like texture inside. Plus they are filled with bacon and cheddar…and then topped with more bacon.

Need I say more?

Bacon & Cheddar Bagels

makes 8 large bagels

3 3/4 cup bread flour

1 1/2 tsp salt

2 tsp active dry yeast

1 1/2 tbsp sugar

1 1/4 cup warm water

1 large egg

1/4 cup bacon grease (reserved from cooking the bacon)

1 cup shredded sharp cheddar

1 cup cooked bacon, chopped

for topping:

1/2 cup cooked bacon, chopped

1 egg mixed with 2 tbsp of water (egg wash)

Measure out your bread flour and salt and put it in a large bowl and set aside. Using the same measuring cup (it just makes it easier), add the yeast and sugar in the measuring cup and then pour the hot water in and set aside until yeast is activated (about 6 minutes).

While you are waiting on the yeast, you can cook some bacon and shred your cheese.

Into the bowl with the bread flour and salt goes the yeasty mixture, along with one egg, bacon grease, cheddar and chopped bacon. Mix until combined, then knead on a floured surface for 6 minutes.

Rub the inside of the bowl with oil and set the dough ball back into the bowl to rise. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and put in a warm place for about an hour to an hour and a half.

Once the dough has about doubled in size, divide it into 8 pieces and smoosh them with your hands, forming a bagel round. Poke a hole with your thumb in the middle of the round.

Place on a greased baking sheet and let them rise for an additional 30 minutes.

Brush egg wash on each bagel and top each with some more bacon crumbles.